Newcastle United tease popular stadium change to remove Mike Ashley reminder after 2022 promise

Newcastle United have teased a big change to St James' Park after showing progress being made in removing the "Newcastle United" signage from the top of the East Stand.

Many outsiders may be unsure as to why the Magpies' faithful would care about such a detail at St James' Park but many see it as the last remaining sign of Mike Ashley's ill-fated tenure at the club. The high street tycoon famously put Sports Direct advertising all around the stadium and changed the iconic "Newcastle United" font to match his business'.

While some supporters won't have noticed such a subtle change, many did and subsequently took issue with the decision. Newcastle United's chief executive officer, Darren Eales, was even asked by one fan on BBC Radio Newcastle back in 2022 as to whether the club would change the lettering back to its original, non-italic font.

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“That’s something that never had come to my attention before, and obviously that’s something that we’ll be looking at as we get feedback from supporters,” said Eales.

Newcastle are making more changes behind the scenes at St James' Park with new kitchens being installed and new food and drink offerings being tested ahead of the return of competitive football next month.

The Magpies are expected to test some of these changes when fans return for the Sela Cup at the beginning of August. There is also hope the new 'Stack' fan zone will be open in the near future, with the list of vendors announced last week.

Neill Winch, CEO of STACK, is confident the businesses chosen will ensure there is a food offering for everyone when the fan zone opens its doors. “We have been inundated with applications from interested traders who wished to take a unit and therefore only a select few were shortlisted to take part. We pride ourselves on being loyal to existing and past traders so it’s great to see a number of them coming back to STACK," he said last week.

“However, we are always looking for good quality street food offerings that will delight our customers and offer a really eclectic and exciting mix of food and that is certainly the case with these new STACK traders who are well known on the restaurant scene.”